there are too many variables. firm doesn't necessarily mean stable. some rifles actually like some of the cheaper ammo, and some won't shoot well with anything but match. the shooter is the biggest influence, so a lot depends on your skills as a marksman.

I'll take a stab at it with the little information given. I'd say 1/2" to 3" group supported as you mention. Now I'm more on the 1.5" side when fore arm supported. Give me a bipod & prone and I'm back to 1 MOA typically at that distance. Keep in mind that 50 yards is very close.

While in the Army I put 9 shots in one hole with a flyer about 1/4 inch out with a standard issue M14 and ammo. Prone sandbags peep sight. I did not try it with
M16, but the M16 I qualified with was more accurate and I got a higher score with it. I say it is doable. I might try it.

At Appleseed marksmanship clinics, we consider 4 MOA from field positions to be "Rifleman's Standard"... though that is not from a solid rest (it is turning your body into a "firm platform" using the rifle's sling). 4 MOA would be 2" at 50 yards. Come to an Appleseed and we will teach you everything you need to shoot to this standard consistently, from field positions, out to 500 yards. www.appleseedinfo.org

A good AR with good ammo should do about 1/2" - 1 MOA, a good AR with cheap ammon is anyone's guess as it totally depsnds on the ammo. But for something like PMC or XM193 I would guess about 2 MOA or 1" at 50 yards.

A good AR with good ammo should do about 1/2" - 1 MOA, a good AR with cheap ammon is anyone's guess as it totally depsnds on the ammo. But for something like PMC or XM193 I would guess about 2 MOA or 1" at 50 yards.

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My views as well. Much of the inexpensive factory ammo just isn't very accurate. Some combinations of cheap ammo and decent but unexceptional guns may only do 3-5 MOA without anything being defective.

If you want to know what you and your gun are really capable of, get some match ammo with a bullet suitable for your twist rate (69 or 77gr if you have 1 in 7 twist, 50 to 69gr (maybe) if you have 1 in 9 twist, nothing heavier than 55 if you have a 1 in 12 twist). Federal Gold Medal Match is considered both high quality and just about the reference standard.

I remember in boot with a loose, off the rack A2, field prone, issue M855 ammo, at 35 yards, all holes were touching. A good rifle with even decent cheap ammo should perform well at 50 with a target small enough to be precise and large enough to see.

I'd like to see some of these 1" five shot groups shot off of a sand bag on the bench at 50 yards, with the A2 peeps.

No glass, no dots, no lead sleds, no bi-pods... not theoretical performance.... but honest "I shot this" targets ....

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Well....hard to measure now but the actual ring dimensions of that 10 shot prone target posted above are X = 0.75", 10 = 1.75", 9 = 2.75". The better shooters will shoot a lot tighter groups than mine for sure.
At 50 yards, that group would have been nearly 1/4 the size (remember that as diameter doubles the total area increases much more than 2x. A one inch circle - two MOA at 50 yards - has an area of 0.786"sq.in. A two MOA circle at 100 yards has an area of 3.14 sq.in, nearly four times larger. The reverse is true also. That one inch group in post #18 would likely have been 1/2" or smaller at 50 yds.)
Pete

Your 100 yd performance is also impressive Pete... If I understand your scale correctly, the spread is ~2.5", which would in theory have halved if shot at 50 yds.

Perhaps "good" for a regular competitive shooter and "good" for a guy off the street who just bought his first AR and wonders whether he's getting there or not are different standards.

I'd like to know if the high power competitors are using the standard A2 aperture sizes, or if they have retrofitted a smaller hole rear sight.

The reason I ask is that all I can see is a small black smudge at 100 yds, and even the small A2 aperture is huge by comparison.

I've always heard that the AR is an "inherently accurate" platform.... and I definitely agree with that assessment.

I also think that the rifle's potential for accuracy is far greater than the individual skill level of most "civilians" who handle it (and probably most in the military as well).

So my take on the OPs question was an inquiry about what is a "reasonable expectation" for an "average Joe" with his first AR. Which is a different question than what is the capability of the rifle itself, or the rifle in the hands of an competitive shooter.

If the bar is set too high for a new shooter who aspires to be a "rifleman" some day, guys can get discouraged and feel that they need to go for high powered optics to "get there".

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